Following a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg today, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced that the European External Action Service will draft a list of possible actions in response to Ankara’s partial opening of the fenced off town of Varosha in occupied Cyprus, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

In a news conference after the foreign ministers’ meeting, Borrell noted that last July the EU had announced that if Turkey continued with provocations against Cyprus and Greece, then the Council would ask EU bureaucrats to draft a list of options.

The foreign ministers are expected to review the options for responding to Turkey’s actions at their next meeting, in November, if Turkey has not altered its stance in the interim.

“This is the first step toward taking decisions in this area,” Borrell said.

Borrell also characterised as unacceptable Turkey’s harassment of ships in the Exclusive Economic Zones of EU member-states and underlined that all members expressed solidarity with Greece and Cyprus.

Headlines